April 8, 2016

Yemen: the silent war

Yemen is presented by the Western media as the hideout of al-Qaeda and
the kingdom of child brides. But it is also a nation with a millenary
culture and youthful creativity, both back in vogue during the 2011
revolution which was the most peaceful among the so-called Arab springs.
Yemen is currently being destroyed by a terrible war, largely ignored
by the media, despite its centrality, along with Syria and Iraq, to the
Middle Eastern crisis. In this war scenario, in which Western countries
participate by selling weapons to Saudi Arabia, the Yemeni population
has been extremely resilient and local artists have tried to recount the
conflict by showing its consequences on civilians and on a unique
cultural and architectural heritage.